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PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
200 AM HST THU JAN 3 2013

...SYSTEM UPGRADE OF SOUTH HAWAII AND MOLOKAI WEATHER RADAR WSR-88D 
UNITS TO DUAL POLARIZATION TO RESUME IN LATE JANUARY 2013...

ALL WEATHER RADAR UNITS...ALSO KNOWN AS THE WSR-88D...NATION WIDE 
AND SELECTED OVERSEAS SITES ARE BEING UPGRADED AND FITTED WITH DUAL 
POL /DUAL POLARIZATION/ TECHNOLOGY. TWO WSR-88D UNITS IN THE STATE 
OF HAWAII...KAUAI AND NORTH KOHALA...WERE UPGRADED EARLIER IN 2012. 

THE SYSTEM UPGRADE WILL RESUME IN LATE JANUARY...WITH THE TWO 
REMAINING HAWAII UNITS RECEIVING HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE WITH DUAL POL 
TECHNOLOGY. THE PROCESS WILL TAKE AROUND TWO WEEKS PER UNIT WHEN 
RADAR DATA WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE.

THE UNITS INVOLVED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:
SOUTH HAWAII ISLAND UNIT CALL SIGN PHWA...FAA IDENTIFIER HWC.
MOLOKAI UNIT CALL SIGN PHMO...FAA IDENTIFIER HMO. 

THE PROJECT COMMENCES ON JANUARY 29 2013 WITH SOUTH HAWAII RADAR 
SHUTTING DOWN AT AROUND 8 AM HST. RADAR SERVICE IS EXPECTED TO 
RETURN AROUND FEBRUARY 8 2013. THE MOLOKAI UNIT WILL FOLLOW SUITE ON 
FEBRUARY 11 2013...WITH A RETURN TO SERVICE TARGETED FOR FEBRUARY 22 
2013. 

THE BENEFITS OF DUAL POL ARE:
-IMPROVED DETECTION AND MITIGATION OF NON-WEATHER ECHOES SUCH AS 
GROUND CLUTTER AND CHAFF.

-IDENTIFICATION OF THE MELTING LAYER...ALSO KNOWN IN RADAR TERMS AS 
THE BRIGHT BAND...SIGNIFICANT TO AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS.

-CLASSIFICATION OF PRECIPITATION TYPE SUCH AS RAIN... 
SNOW...HAIL...AND SLEET.

-IMPROVED DETECTION OF HAIL AND LOCATION OF UPDRAFTS.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON DUAL POL TECHNOLOGY...PLEASE VISIT THE 
FOLLOWING LINKS USING ALL LOWER CASE.

WWW.NSSL.NOAA.GOV/TOOLS/RADAR/DUALPOL/

WWW.CIMMS.OU.EDU/~SCHUUR/RADAR.HTML

FOR QUESTIONS CONTACT TOM EVANS VIA EMAIL...ALL LOWER CASE...AT 
TOM.EVANS@NOAA.GOV OR HENRY LAU AT HENRY.LAU@NOAA.GOV.

$$